Northwestern was one of many universities to receive a letter from Congress asking how the University uses its multi-billion dollar endowment, Executive Vice President Nim Chinniah said Tuesday.

The letter, signed by the chairmen of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, was sent to 56 private universities with an endowment larger than $1 billion, according to Bloomberg News. NU’s endowment had a value of nearly $9.9 billion at the end of fiscal year 2015.

Chinniah said staff from the development, finance and investment areas of the University are working together on responding to the letter, which legislators requested by April 1.

He also noted the importance of the University’s endowment to its long-term sustainability.

“We have a large endowment and … it is probably the single largest long-term asset of the institution, so how it’s invested is a decision that’s really a board decision that’s made through the investment committee,” he said.

The congressional letter comes as part of a push by federal legislators to scrutinize college affordability and university endowments. Earlier this month, Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) introduced a bill that would require universities to provide a price model to allow students and their families to plan for tuition costs throughout students’ college careers.

Although the letter deals more with how universities are spending their endowments, NU has also come under scrutiny from the student body for how it invests its endowment due to pressure from three student movements calling for the University to divest from certain assets and to be more transparent in its investments.

Scott Brown, coal divestment group Fossil Free NU’s campaign coordinator and a former Daily staffer, said the idea behind the letter to call for greater transparency surrounding the University’s endowment was in line with the intention of Fossil Free NU’s platform, even though it dealt with a different aspect. Brown said transparency has become a particular concern of Fossil Free NU’s members as they’ve met with administrators and the Board of Trustees.

“The fact that we’ve had to fight for four years just to be in direct contact with the trustees … shows that there really is a huge barrier of transparency at the university that needs to be addressed,” the Medill junior said. “If Northwestern were to increase transparency of how it’s using its endowment and how it’s investing its endowment, it would really only benefit the university as a whole.”

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @maddycfox